Month: March 2007

I’m so sorry I haven’t written in you in SUCH a long time! I feel just awful about it. I have so much to tell you! I have been so very busy! But I will try to catch you up and will include pictures too! Does that help diary? Pictures too? Yes? Do you forgive me? Ok, on with the story!

Let’s see I have to go back aways. I went off to Florida for St. Paddy’s day. I drank some beer out of some really lovely tall beer glasses that gave you a necklace in the bottom for free! FREE jewlery? And big, tall beer? SCORE! Best Boyfriend Ever and I had quite the night of great fun with the most awesome people that probably live in all of Florida. Now, there certainly are sure to be lots of awesome people in a state that is surrounded by beach on three sides, cause well, you live near lots of BEACH, but I have not met all of them yet, and so right now the ones that drink beer with me, show me cool places to hang, and have the super coolest backyard to hang out in later this summer? Yeah, they ARE the coolest in all of Florida. But hey, other Florida people, don’t be jealous! Think you are the coolest? Are you sitting there reading this thinking, “Hey, I thought I was the coolest person in all of Florida, what the hell?” Ring me up, invite me to your beach front condo, give me a margarita and make me laugh until my sides ache! You can be the second most coolest people AND my new best friends. (Please note: this audition is for coastal Floridians only. Central Floridians need not apply. Not an equal opportunity situation. Must come with BEACH.)

Oh, and several people have written in to ask me why I don’t post pics of Best Boyfriend Ever. Writing things like, “we don’t believe he is real!” and ” We think he is a figment of your imagination. You buy flowers for yourself and you are just a onesome dog lady that has a pretend boyfriend.” Geez, people how mean are YOU??? He is for real, quite real I assure you! But hello??? This blog is all about me! ME! He doen’t sit down and lovingly and without typos (ha!) take the time to write to you! I do! ME!!! So no pics of him. Ok, actually all that is a lie. But it sounded good didn’t it? No one has written in, not one. And there is a perfectly good reason why I am not putting pics of him up here. But I’m not telling. And I am certainly not telling you that he is in the witness protection plan. or that he is part of an atlanta mafia crime family. or that he is a super undercover cia agent. Maybe it is on of these reasons. Maybe none. Maybe I am a crazy lonely dog lady with a good imagination. All for you to decide my friends….

Ok, then we got back and Noah the Great, or “the dude” as I love to call him and miraculously he still lets me do, plays the sax. And I think I mentioned before, he plays it WELL! Which, with his brains, make me wonder about switched babies at the hospital, but no matter! He is MINE now and and I claim his genetics! Maybe I CAN learn to play the guitar yet! ok, no…sorry college music teacher, a promise is a promise. I will live vicariously through my son. Isn’t that what all good parents do? Anyhoo, he was in a competition! And his band got three superior marks! THREE!! The best from ALL THREE judges! I had zero previous knowledge of any of this music whozi whatzis, but now i do! And he is GOOD! And he gets a trophy today! Yay DUDE! You rock little man! I loves ya so much!

Miss Sophie Loafie Lovey Dove is just a firecracker these days. Good lord do I adore this child. She draws and creates and has drawn up architectural plans for Chester the fourteen year old cat she will be “getting” from best boyfriend ever when we move in together later this summer. Yes, a cat castle. With a drawbridge! She is now collecting cardboard and boxes for what appears to be quite the architectural challenge and design undertaking. I have not yet told her that fourteen year old cats are more like, “Um, yeah, nice castle kid. But your pillow? Yeah that’s where I’ll be sleeping from now on. Why don’t you go sleep in the castle. Oh and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………” Yeah, she is expecting a kitten all frolicky and playful. But ya know, life’s surprises are what it’s all about right? Right. Heh.

We took the kids to Waffle House this weekend. Nothing at all of importance happened there except for some really great smothered, covered, diced and chunked, but I did snap a few pictures that I think will make all the difference to Harvard during the interview. Yep, my kids are the future!!! You might want to make sure you put a little something away for your future people…

The gallery guy came by last Thursday. I took the day off of work (I will not get into how wrong that sentence is, this is just for now, this is just for now…) to get my paintings ready. I was a nervous wreck thinking he would pull up after having driven out of his way to get them, take one look at them and go, “Lady, forget it! I came out here for this!!??” But strangely, he thanked me. HE. THANKED. ME. I am not sure an artist ever gets used to people liking and valuing their art. I mean, sure we hope for it, pray for it, beg for it, cry for it, but then when it actually happens? We are all Sally Field all of a sudden. (i don’t have to actually write that next line do I ?)*

So he came, we signed papers, he is up there now at a much bigger that I thought, international home furnishings show in Highpoint, NC and he said he will call if he sells anything, but that no matter what he is bringing my work back to New Orleans to put int he gallery there. Boooya!

Workwise: i am a wee behind on commissions with this freelance job taking a lot of time. At the end of each week they ask me back for one more week. And since I was so slow for so long it is really hard to say no to good money. That plus my medical bills are now at roughly $3000.00 For a damn finger. But I do refer to it as my lucky finger. Why? Becasue it saved my butt from falling down the stairs where i would have been a lot more crookedy in a lot more places, and if one itty bitty finger is $3000, i don’t wanna know what “Well, Ms. Abeyta, we managed to save your foot, and we got your elbows back in place, but the damage done to your nose is going to take quite a lot of plastic surgery” costs. So yes, lucky finger it is! Oh, and I went to the doctor yesterday because well, the bone healed rotated and it bends in the wrong direction now. So I do need surgery. Well, need in the sense that if I want a perfectly stright bends in the right way, need surgery. It will cost me a mere $8000 more. To which I said, “blink….blink….blink….Hey, did I show you this cool trick I can do with my lucky finger???!!!”

And that my dear diary, is what is going on with me. I hope to be painting full time again soon as I am WAY behind and while I do love my little cubicle, it is not where I am supposed to be. So just for a wee bit longer then off I go back to my super sweet love it like no other studio. Promise. And I leave you with a shot that happens when the Sophinator gets hold of the camera and is bored. Behold the future!

Hello internet dearies. It is your long lost artist friend, the gimp, or the claw, or the hook. Whichever. People are nicer when you have a clw covered with dogs drawings. “Awwww, look at that nice gimpy one handed girl with the cute doggies! Let me get the door for her, carry her bag for her, give her money.” ok, that last thing didn’t really happen. But maybe if I look sad enough and say one more time, “And then I looked down and my fingers was SIDEWAYS! All crookedy I tell you! And the PAIN! Oh the PAIN!” and let one lone tear slide down my face… well maybe it can get me a free coffee.

I am workin hard for my money in cubicle-ville the past 4 weeks. They just asked me to stay for two more. The people are great, the work is great, and that paycheck every week? FANTABULOUS! But the commissions are piling on and my poor lonely studio calls my name. What is a girl to do? A freelancer never says no and I may have to milk this cow until it’s dry… We’ll see. But working the past 4 weeks until midnight to keep up with other freelance and commissions is wearing me out.

In other news I sold three paintings yesterday that were not commissions! Yippee! One was my beach dog painting which you can seeif you scroll down the page a bit. They saw it in the Starbucks and called me up and we met and a happy check later she owned it. Can’t wait to do more in that series.

Then the gallery owner from New Orleans called me up. Ya know, the gallery that wanted my Big Dog series LAST SEPTEMBER but I was too poor to mail to them? Yeah that one.Apparently he is driving through atlanta with BIG TRUCKS to go to a show at their showroom in NC and he wanted to know if I was still interested in having them represent me, cause if I was they would come by my studio and take whatever I could give him, show it in NC, the drive it back to New Orleans to put in their gallery there. To which I replied, “blink…blink…blink…uhhh, duhhhh, YES!!!” I told you I am a gimp now. So howz about them apples??? By the by a meandering side note, when I first began painting gogs I found the artist Ron Burns online http://www.ronburns.com HIS commissions start at 20K! I emailed him for advice and he very nicely said something encouraging. And guess what gallery represents his work in New Orleans? Yep, that’s right the same one as me!! Sterling Gallery by the way http://www.sterlinggallery.net

And on that happy note (and I have some DOOSEY news for later but it came as a result of the panda painting – will tell you once confirmed) I am leaving in 3 short hours to drive with Best Boyfriend Ever to Pensacola. Sunday we are celebrating his parents 40th wedding anniversary! Can you believe it? 40 years wow. Very inspiring. But tomorrow nite? You will find me on a beach with BBF and his awesome highschool best friend and his awesomer wife at a bar drinking something or other and belting out a Jimmy Buffet toon or two in tribute to all the Irish. Cause what says Ireland Forever more than Margaritaville and a shot of tequila??? Right-O! Will have picks upon my return!

And if you go look today you can see me (or DECATUR ARTIST – HAHAHA!) mentioned this morning on the news on the home page of the AJC. http://www.ajc.com and look at the videos for the baby panda!

I am so excited and so happy to be a part of the Beastly Feast to raise money for Zoo Atlanta! What an honor! Now to contact the Georgia Aquarium! How cool would a huge whale painting be???

Also, thank you for all your well wishes on my hand. I found out Monday I don’t need surgery!! Yay!!!! I will post a pic of the cast which now has dog art all over it. People ask me about it then ask for a card…always thinking about marketing, right?